Fish Heaven

"Emma, I think that your fish has gone to Fish Heaven."
...Silence...
"Emma, it looks like Goldie went to be with Jesus tonight."

Her little face just dropped and she gave me a hug. I don't think she knew how to process her feelings.  Suddenly the tears began to fall and she told me that Goldie went to be with Jesus and was happier there because Jesus had a bigger fish tank than we had and the tank had more fish so Goldie was making new friends.  She figured Goldie was getting lonely all by herself in our tank. 

I told her that even though Goldie's heart was with Jesus in Heaven that we still had to bury her body that was here.  I told Duane to get the fish out of the tank and prepare for burial.  Thankfully, Emma wasn't able to get a good look at Goldie dead in the tank because the fish had been sucked up against the filter and was attached through suction.  Not how one wants to remember their beloved first fish I assume!  I told Emma that it would be best to do a burial "at sea" or otherwise known as DOWN THE TOILET.  She told Duane that she did not want to watch so she gave Goldie her last goodbye, Duane prayed a beautiful prayer of remembrance, and Goldie was flushed. 

This was Emma's first big loss and she was very sad for the rest of the night but did come to the conclusion that it would be OK to replace Goldie with a different fish in a few days.  She made sure I knew that she will never forget Goldie.  This was a relief to mommy-- not because I want fish-- but because we paid enough money for the starter tank that something needs to live in it!

Emma is resting now but I am sure tomorrow will bring renewed grief and agony when she remembers what happened tonight when she got home....

Caught Red-Handed!

This is the face of our 1-year old being CAUGHT red-handed as he broke into his diaper bag and helped himself to a bag of snacks before dinner.

Need I say more?! I suppose I will tell the whole short story.  I, the tired and over-worked mom in this story, was busy preparing dinner before we went to church.  Emma was on the potty. Duane was on a conference call off-site.  I was about 3/4 the way through dinner when I realized that it had been WAY TOO quiet for WAY TOO long so I called out for Mason. No response.  I called out again. No response.  Half panicking I left the kitchen to round the corner and the face pictured above is the face I see.  Followed by this face when I asked him what he was doing...

At that very moment Emma calls me from the potty proclaiming proudly that she has gone poo-poo and wants me to go see it.  Then the timer goes off signaling that I need to remove the dinner pan from the heat per the instructions.  So, I weighed my options on which item I should tackle first.  I chose Emma and the potty-- praying that my bathroom wasn't in disarray and the trip to the potty was indeed successful.  It was so I cleaned her up, washed my hands, and decided the timer was the next priority when Duane walks in.  Welcome to chaos, honey! He grabs the timer and turns off the stove.  Then it was back to Mason who was sitting proudly holding his empty bag of Kix and was saying, "Nack, Nack!" -- translation: snack, snack-- victory written all over his face.

It is new to us...

It is never fun having friends move away especially when they are fantastic friends like the Kozuls.  I am happy to announce that we get to have a little bit of them everyday in the form of Iva and Alena's former swing set which now resides in our backyard.  It took a bit of planning and researching to make it happen BUT it has been worth every second.  The timing could not have been more perfect either as the swing set was re-constructed in our backyard on Emma's actual birthday--September 28th! It was a huge surprise when she came home from school and found it!

There are going to be many, many memories made on the swing set including bumps and bruises, tea parties in the clubhouse, and fights over swings-- thank goodness I get to watch some of them from the comfort of our sofa while they enjoy their "new" playset! Thank you Sarah, Vince, Iva, and Alena for making these smiles possible for my kiddos!